August 2010

08/29/2010

Welcome SewMamaSew! Thanks for doing another amazing giveaway.In my previous post, you'll see that I have just made a dress form made out of duct tape a.k.a. the duct tape double. (I know you’ve got a lot of entries to read, but check it out here.)

I’m so pleased that I can tailor clothing to fit my unique figure. As a busy Toddler teacher, comfortable, easy, good-looking, professional clothing is important. Knitwear could certainly achieve all of this, but I know that it can be challenging to sew knits without a serger. I haven’t actually used one since working in the costume shop in college. In fact, that was where I first heard of this miracle machine and discovered the ability to quickly sew strong seams, tackle knitwear, and cut edges while sewing (thrilling!) But my affair ended with graduation. Even with the tens of dollars that I make as an ealy educator, I’ve never been able to buy a serger. But after making my duct tape double, I got to thinking: If I could save money and create the perfect dress form out of duct tape, maybe I could do the same thing with an overlock machine. So, I took out what was left on my roll of duct tape to make <drum roll> my own DUCT TAPE SERGER!

Knowing that sewing knits would be a breeze, I thought I would start with a simple repair job of my husband’s favorite t-shirt.

It did close the hole, but hubby is complaining of the stickiness. So picky!

So, I thought I’d make something for myself. After all, that’s why I made this serger. I’ve been seeing lots of lovely, embellished t-shirts lately, and it would be great if I could shorten a t-shirt to better fit my 4’ 10” self. So, I thought I’d use the awesome decorative stitch feature of my Duct Tape Serger to fancy up my shirt.

Just a little dial adjustment...

It IS awesome, no? NO?!!I was probably trying to be too awesome with my Duct Tape Serger. So, I picked the simple task of refinishing the edges of our cloth napkins that are starting to fray.

Just a run through my Duct Tape Serger

I was so excited for Nora to get the napkins before dinner to see what she thought.

Well, she’s a bit of a tough critic. She’d rather I make her some clothing anyway. Here’s what I did in an attempt to make a hem on her dress last Winter.Before the Duct Tape Serger:

(Clearly, I have no idea how to use hem tape, and it took forever!)After the Duct Tape Serger:

I think that I remember hems like this in my high school costume shop!

I used my Duct Tape Dress Form to clean up the seams on a cute Built by Wendy top. I used a vintage bed sheet for the fabric.

The seams look a little lame, and making French seams takes so long. It took only seconds to finish the seams with my Duct Tape Serger!

Hmm... it’s not as “awesome” as I thought it would be. It looks like there are some jobs that Duct Tape simply CANNOT do. <gasp!>So, SewMamaSew team, it looks like I really could use the amazing Husqvarna s21 after all.

I’m pretty creative, but I guess I cannot create anything better than the folks at Husqvarna.

08/25/2010

Oh, duct tape, what can’t you do?! Being the size and shape that I am... under 5 foot and fed by a fantastic chef who knows his way around butter and bacon (sigh), I’ve never been able to find clothes off the rack that fit me the way I would like. I’m so very short that the area on a shirt that should be at the waist actually falls at my hips which are generous (yet another fitting issue)! With my love of sewing, it just made sense for me to make my own clothes, but let’s face it, patterns can often have the same issues that retail clothes have. Armed with some great books about fitting, I started shopping for dress forms. While they are adjustable, I found that they don’t necessarily adjust appropriately for my figure. In fact, my measurements fall between two different sizes of forms! Then, I remembered an article that I read in Threads magazine about cloning yourself a “fitting assistant.” While being able to get clothing to properly fit is worth a lot to me, I was delighted to discover that I could do it so inexpensively.

If you are tricky to fit or short on cash, I totally recommend it. It was almost fun to make!Before you start wrapping yourself up, you’ve got to prepare a little!

You’ll need:

A REALLY good friend who can bite her/his tongue while wrapping (I opted for my husband)

A bottle of wine/ scotch for above

Old turtleneck and t-shirt

Duct tape - I used 3 rolls, barely using the third to clean up the final layer

Make a date with your wrapper. Plan on having them on hand for about 3 hours... some of that time will be spent on that wine later!

Schedule the sitter - Really, you’ll literally be stuck and unable to parent!

You’ll need to make something to keep you from actually getting stuck to the duct tape (ouch!) I cut off the bottom of the t-shirt and sewed it to the bottom of the turtleneck to lengthen the shirt. The more form-fitting, the better. Bulk from a too-big t-shirt affects the shape of your form.

Put on your best bra

Pop in a movie that you and your wrapping partner have seen before because the wrapping part can get a little dull, I don’t recommend a comedy because you can’t really laugh (but you will anyway!)

Go to the bathroom

I stood on an anti-stress mat, but wear something comfy on your feet that you can stand in for awhile. You’ll stand with your normal posture.

Wrap

Start wrapping “across the heart.” This is the most important wrap. Mine could have been a little tighter. It is the first wrap, but try to make it as perfect as you can.

(Have I mentioned that I need a new camera?!!)

Wrap horizontally, vertically, and horizontally according to the directions. The length of your tape will vary, some pieces will need to be snipped into a dart.

Using a weighted string, mark the center front, back, and sides with marker (you’ll cover it later, so you don’t need to be fancy)

(Check your marks when you're done to make sure everything is level)

Bend slightly to determine where the waist falls and mark

(This photo was actually taken after it was cut in the back so it looks a little loose)

Thank your partner and hopefully, they will release you. (remind them to watch out for your bra with those scissors!)

Stretch! It took us until the Fellowship made it to the Mines of Moria. That’s a long time of standing!

Stuff

Tape together the back of the neck and the upper back of the form.

Using a flexible ruler, shape it around your neck and cut out a piece of cardboard in that shape.

Poke a hole through the center and put the hook of the coat hanger through it.

Fit the cardboard against the top of the neck and secure with duct tape all around.

Cut a U-shape into the larger-diameter PVC pipe just wide enough for the cross/ “pants” rod of the coat hanger fits snugly

Start stuffing. You’ll use up lots of batting filling it snugly. Be careful not do misshape the form by over stuffing.

Use shoulder pads to fill in curves: shoulders, breasts, (I even used them for my hips!)

Keep taping up the back as you go.

Keep the rod straight!

When you get to the arms, cover them as you did with the neck.

The bottom is done the same way, with a hole for the rod to fit through. You’ll need to give it a little pressure to squish down the batting against the cardboard. Get some help!

Make a Stand

Cut the PVC slightly beyond the bottom of the form.

Slip it over the rod of the tripod.

Adust the legs of the tripod to make the height of your shoulders

Git Er DoneSorry, it was the duct tape!

Now that she’s on a stand, she can spin around! Use this to help you finish wrapping.

This is the layer that should look pretty. So, use scissors on the tape rather than your teeth!

As you go, remark the lines of the center, sides, back, and waist. You could add more lines, too.

08/04/2010

How much do you love Little House on the Prairie? As children, my sisters and I used to play "Little House" all the time. We watched the TV series together (loosely based on the books!) My mother made us mob caps, and I've passed mine on to Eleanor who wears it regularly. I used to love the idea of climbing a ladder to get to bed (as seen on TV) and envy Nora just a little bit when she climbs up to her loft in her nightgown and eyelet cap. Needless to say, I've read all of the books in the original series... and the Rose years... and the cookbook... and biographies. We just read Little House in Brookfield about the childhood of Laura's mother, Caroline. We were very disappointed to find out that the series is no longer in print and quite expensive used... especially frustrating after realizing that there are six more of the series! There are also stories of Caroline's mother, Charlotte and Charlotte's mother, Martha. Oy, that's a lot of books!

I love Little House in the Big Woods for it's simplicity and explanations of daily life in the mid-1800s, but Farmer Boy is my favorite of the series. This book packs in many stories of Laura Ingalls' husband, Almanzo's Wilder, when he was a boy. I recently mentioned to my sisters that I wanted to visit his childhood home, and a road trip was planned. He grew up in Malone, NY which is only a few hours from where we live. We took a ferry across the lake and had a fun drive in a car filled with my twin sisters, my 10 year-old nephew, and Eleanor.

Oh, how I wish I could share photos of inside the house, but there was no photography allowed inside. It was so lovely! Each room was furnished and decorated as it would have been when Almanzo was a child. In the attic, reached by a steep staircase, we found Almanzo's bedroom that he shared with his brother, Royal. They had another brother, Pearly, who was born after the "year" that Farmer Boy took place. However, the house is set up to mimic when book took place so he was not represented. However, the only object that is original to the house is a bedspread donated by Pearly that Mrs. Wilder wove.

To one side of the boys' room is an unfinished attic space where Father would have made his shingles. Eliza Jane's and Alice's room on the other side was bright and much larger that I imagined. (There was one older sister, Laura, that would have been grown and out of the house when Almanzo was a boy.) There were two windows allowing in lots of natural light and *gasp* a weaver was weaving on a loom between them! We spent quite some time talking about weaving with her, and my nephew had some impressive questions to ask her. He is such a math whiz and had a very intelligent conversation about calculating the materials needed for the weaving and how to warp the loom. The girls' beds were on either side of the loom. Because weaving would have been done during the winter months (when the garden did not need tending) the loom would have been dismantled and put away in the unfinished attic space to make room for visiting cousins to sleep on the floor. This bedroom was also impressive for its time because it had two closets. This would have been rare as they would have been taxed for these closets as additional rooms. One of the closets had a display of towels belonging to Rose Wilder Lane, Almanzo's daughter. They had little roses on them as she was fond of her name. Almanzo called her his "Little Prairie Rose."

Downstairs was much like I expected and felt like walking into the book with a couple of exceptions. One of them was the small bedroom off the parlor. We couldn't figure out who it belonged to. A guide told us that it would have been a guest room which made sense when thinking back to the book. They would have had to have a room to board the cobbler, the peddler, the school teacher. It also would have been used to isolate anyone who was ill, and being on the main floor, it would have been easier to keep an eye on that sick person, too. The other thing that we hadn't quite figured out was the set up of the parlor. {Spoiler Alert!} We discovered that the wood stove was between the parlor and the dining room. with a low doorway over it. The door to the parlor was beside the stove "door". Using our best CSI skills, we figured trajectories, the height of a nine year old, and the shoulder height of his big sister to try to determine where the blacking brush hit the wall. We inspected the walls hoping to find a patch of wallpaper. Alas, we found nothing! However, I did notice a shelf in the unfinished attic that had a roll of the parlor's wallpaper on it. I like to imagine that is where Eliza Jane found it when it was necessary.

The reconstructed barns were a real highlight. It was fun to imagine it full of animals and the longing that Almanzo felt to pet the young horses and colts. In fact, as part of the "Hay Days of Summer" event, there were demonstrations of beautiful Morgan horses.

There were fine examples of farm machinery and tools in the barns. I got to use a water pump which I've always wanted to do! I feel like we take for granted turning on the tap. There's something really powerful about pumping water. I think I could have some serious biceps using one of those daily!

There was, of course a cross cut saw for ice fishing (excuse my sister's hair! It was a little crowded.):

Once two Irishmen were sent out to saw ice with a cross-cut saw. They had never sawed ice before. They looked at the ice and they looked at each other and they looked at the saw, till at last Pat took a penny out of his pocket and he says, says he "Now Jamie, be fair. Heads or tails, who goes below?"

-Farmer Boy

We wandered a bit through the garden looking for something in particular and were delighted when we found a milk-fed pumpkin raised similarly to how Almanzo grew his blue ribbon squash. We were disappointed to hear that last year's pumpkin was only slightly bigger than the others (it was grown separately from other pumpkins). Then, we learned that they used 2% milk! Imagine! This year, they are using whole milk, but I suggested that they use raw milk. I might just give that a try myself. I think I have a new garden plan!